Kingdom of the Aurès
The Kingdom of the Aurès (Latin: Regnum Aurasium) was an independent Christian Berber kingdom primarily located in the Aurès Mountains of present-day north-eastern Algeria. Established in the 480s by King Masties following a series of Berber revolts against the Vandalic Kingdom, which had conquered the Roman province of Africa in 435 AD, Aurès would last as an independent realm until the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb in 703 AD when its last monarch, Queen Dihya, was slain in battle.
Kingdom of the Aurès Regnum Aurasium | |||||||||
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| c. 484–703 | |||||||||
The approximate extent of the Kingdom of the Aurès around the time of the collapse of the Vandal Kingdom | |||||||||
| Capital | Arris (400s – 500s) Khenchela (600s – 700s)a | ||||||||
| Common languages | Berber, African Romance | ||||||||
| Religion | Christianity | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
| King | |||||||||
• c. 484 – c. 516 | Masties | ||||||||
• c. 516 – 539 | Iabdas | ||||||||
• 668–703 | Dihya | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
• Separation from the Western Roman Empire | 429 | ||||||||
• Death of the vandal king Huneric | 484 | ||||||||
| 703 | |||||||||
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| Today part of | Algeria | ||||||||
| History of Algeria |
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Much like the larger Mauro-Roman Kingdom, the Kingdom of the Aurès combined aspects of Roman and Berber culture in order to efficiently rule over a population composed of both Roman provincials and Berber tribespeople. For instance, King Masties used the title of Dux and later Imperator to legitimize his rule and openly declared himself a Christian. Despite this, Aurès would not recognize the suzerainty of the remaining Roman Empire in the East (often called the Byzantine Empire by modern historians) and King Iabdas unsuccessfully invaded the Praetorian prefecture of Africa, established after the Byzantines had defeated the Vandals. One possible reason towards why the Berbers could not be integrated as successfully into the Byzantine Empire as they had been before was the Byzantine shift in language from Latin to Greek, the Berbers were thus no longer bilingual with the language of their nominal rulers.
Despite these hostilities, the Byzantines supported Aurès during the Muslim invasion of the Maghreb, hoping that the kingdom could act as a resistance to the Arabs. The final Queen of the kingdom, Dihya, was the final leader of the Berber resistance against the Arabs, which ended with her death and the fall of the Kingdom of the Aurès in 703 AD.